Although there are many things about this level that really bug me, it is truly pivotal to the plot and worth spending some time discussing. In addition to serving as a breakpoint between Shaki's control of you in Roman Baths and Mece's control in Dèjá Vu, it answers a lot of questions, and raises others. The most intriguing thing is the introductory terminal, which starts with the message:
When your space vehicle cruised into the orbit of this rock called the New Arizona Moon, you had no idea of what you were getting yourself into.
Millions of lives have been lost here, yet not all blood spilt was red.....or yellow.
Is your mind racing in confusion, desperately seeking an answer?
You and I are a lot alike, in that we strive for balance. My balance does not come from knowing who died here. My balance does not come from knowledge. My balance comes from justice.
Why have the aliens not left?
Why do they continue to haunt this moon?
Why do they come down to our planet?
I know,
but I want you to think about it.
Woah! We know that there are 4 AIs in the colony, but this doesn't sound like Shaki. It's not Mece. It ain't Ossinder, and it certainly doesn't sound like the nutty communications AI. Who is this terminal from. BTW, it also talks about 30k humans that left the colony after the attack that are trapped in the Eagle's talons (slaves to the aliens?) and that if you could rescue them, you would be a God, or a devil. Boy, there are a lot of Infinity-esque concepts here – balance, justice, becoming a God. But this isn't the Marathon universe, and these aren't the Pfhor. So who is communicating with us here? Is it the same entity that tried to reach out to us in Minnow? And what is it that they know? There are some big hints here. Not all the blood spilled was red or yellow (I guess I'm not the only one who thinks Pfhor blood looks more yellow than green). The aliens are coming down to our planet? This entity clearly represents a different alien presence on the planet - we're going to have to go down there to learn more, but that won't happen for quite some time.
Before we can even read this terminal, there is the small matter of surviving a major ambush. And I mean MAJOR. As soon as you approach the compiler that is standing in front of the terminal, you will be assaulted by aliens coming down the corridors off to each side, as well as occasionally from one of the alcoves above. BTW, the exit terminal is visible in this room, but you can't reach it yet. My strategy for surviving this ambush is to lay down an extensive grid of mines so as to thin the ranks of the aliens, then to approach the compiler and to quickly retreat. You'll still have a lot of aliens to dispatch, but the mines will make this task much easier. Just be careful not to let an alien get too close to a mine that you're next to!
Even after you've cleared the initial ambush, you can expect fierce resistance. I'm not sure what kind of place this is supposed to be, but it is a labyrinth with some of the most convoluted passageways we'll be seeing. Your first task of course is to secure a pattern buffer and shield recharger. Here's the quickest way. Head first to the left (west) and make an immediate left and follow this passage as it makes a U-turn. At the end, make a left, followed by a right and a right. The PB is on your right, as if I had to tell you. From here you can reach a 1X shield recharger by turning right from the PB, going around the corner to the left, making a left, a right and a right, then going around the corner to the left and down a long grey corridor with light panels until reaching a set of stairs. The recharger is at the top of the stairs. From here one can continue across and down a spiral staircase, landing back at the PB. BTW, there is a second PB just around the corner in an alcove - why there are two so close together is a mystery to me.
There are a lot of places to visit and many switches to flip and, frankly, I have no idea what each of the switches does or even which one's are necessary to completion of the scenario. There are nonetheless a lot of places that are interesting to visit and some nice secrets in store. Except for one switch that is accessible in a circular carve-out in one of the passages, all of the other switches we might want to flip are located up high and, hence, we need to figure out how to get to the upper areas of the level. From the entry room heading right (east) instead of left takes the player to a spiral stairway descending into a large, dark room with lots of friends. Be sure to collect the ammo, and then head through the door at the bottom to another descending spiral stairway, this time into a brightly lit room. The switch in this room causes a platform to lower back in the other room. Now, head back up both circular stairways, but jump off the upper one to the right into the newly revealed part of the level. There are two well-lit alcoves we will pass - the second one contains a 2X shield recharger, so be sure to look for it.
Now it's headache time - literally! Ahead are a couple of circular rooms with rising platforms that are reminiscent of those in Colony Ship. Unfortunately, no matter how fast you run, you cannot reach the exit before the platform is too high. There are a couple of small niches with some ammo off each of these rooms that you can duck into to keep from sustaining damage, and then ride the platforms back down. I hate these rooms. Matt, couldn't you at least have the platforms descend a bit more rapidly? Beyond the rooms is a platform to the upper reaches. There are many possible paths to take from here, and it's all too easy to fall back down and have to return to the circular crushers to get back up. Ouch! If you head to the right and across, you will come to a Y - head to the left to reach a room in the northwest corner of the map that contains - what else - lots of monsters. This room is tricky - you need to proceed straight ahead along a ledge to a teleporter that takes you to a ledge on the other side of the room, but that ledge immediately lowers into the pit with all the monsters. After taking care of them, you'll probably need to use the teleporter at the bottom of the pit to return to the first ledge, use its teleporter to get back to the second ledge and then wait for it to rise again, at which point you can finally shoot the switch in this room.
Heading right at the Y takes you to ledges overlooking a rectangular arena that you probably already visited - the circular carve-out switch is here. You'll need to shoot a switch at one point to continue your way around. When you reach the farthest point, look back and you'll see a corridor leading to a switch. You know what to do. Finally, head back to the point where you first ascended to the upper areas and instead of heading right, head left and jump to a window where you can barely balance. Now look across to the right and you'll see a passageway just across - jump to it and flip first one and then another switch. You'll now find yourself overlooking the starting room, and the floor will have a series of platforms moving up and down. You should now have no trouble reaching that exit terminal, but wait - there's more here that you'll want to explore. For one thing there is a terminal up high in the west passage off the starting room. I'm sure you'll have no problem figuring out how to get there. This terminal contains a newsnet post from Amy Wong that speculates on the nature of the New Phoenix quarantine - definitely worth a read. Finally, there is a major secret stash of ammo that you'll definitely want to reach. Standing at that first PB, look in map view and you'll see a small alcove just above you, as well as a hint of a passageway just around the corner. That passageway is where you want to go. I'll leave it to you, however, to figure out how to get there.
When you finally read the exit terminal, you'll be treated to a very nice treatise on the Cornelian Systems Battlesuit. This really explains a lot - no cybernetics for you - all of your abilities, from survival of falls to shielding to breathing in vacuum, are the result of your battlesuit. Oh well, the Doctor needs you back to undo what you did for Shaki, and then he has other plans for you.
